Presenter(s): Erin Parker − Marine Biology
Faculty Mentor(s): Mark Carey
Poster 177
Research Area: Social Science
Coral reefs provide critical habitat for over one-third of all marine fish species, including many commercially valuable species. They also provide humans with a wide variety resources and services, including coastline protection, food and drugs, and the bases for booming tourism economies. Unfortunately, these valuable ecosystems are in decline worldwide due to the effects of both human caused global climate change and localized threats that include pollution and overfishing. Many coastal populations in the Coral Triangle, a biodiversity hotspot in the Indo-Pacific, rely heavily on subsistence reef fisheries for their livelihoods and for most of the protein in their diets. Without the reef, they likely would not be able to get enough food for themselves and their families, in addition to losing a job that provides both a steady source of income and a great deal of satisfaction and enjoyment. The importance of reef fish to these communities means that falling fish stocks encourage increased fishing effort, which depletes stocks even further, creating a positive feedback loop of overfishing and reef destruction. This research will explore the negative impacts experienced by coastal subsistence-based fishing communities in the developing nations of the Coral Triangle when reefs are degraded or destroyed by human actions and climate change. I will evaluate impacts in terms of fishers’ ability to provide for themselves and to maintain their cultural identities, and argue that climate-caused reef degradation is contributing to the positive feedback loop of reef destruction by adding stress to reefs and preventing their recovery.